


Ritual

by EaSnowPw



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Auras, Body Paint, Idiots in Love, Insecurity, M/M, Magic, Rituals
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-10
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-17 00:34:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,060
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29341392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EaSnowPw/pseuds/EaSnowPw
Summary: Tony held his arms out, watching familiar trembling fingers run over the skin on the inside of his arms, leaving trails of white paint behind. The engineer hummed in thought, dipping two fingers into the paint bowl (Stephen had insisted that it was a potion, but Tony knew it was pretty much handmade vegan body paint) before he copied the pattern on his lover's own body.
Relationships: Tony Stark/Stephen Strange
Comments: 25
Kudos: 85
Collections: Snow's ironstrange dump





	Ritual

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Day 3 prompt of Ironstrange Valentines Week: Ritual

Tony held his arms out, watching familiar trembling fingers run over the skin on the inside of his arms, leaving trails of white paint behind. The engineer hummed in thought, dipping two fingers into the paint bowl (Stephen had insisted that it was a potion, but Tony knew it was pretty much handmade vegan body paint) before he copied the pattern on his lover's own body.

It went like that for what felt like hours. Stephen was nothing if not meticulous, each line and dot being drawn with precision despite his physical impairment. He was obviously taking his time, lovingly cradling whatever part of Tony he was painting, eyes narrowed with his concentration. Tony did his best to make a similar picture on the canvas that was Stephen's body, shelving all jokes for later. This was a magical ritual and while Stephen claimed it was only meant to be an extra ward for the sanctum, Tony could feel that it had more meaning than that for his sorcerer.

It was a ritual that could only be done between lovers. Stephen had explained (tried to, at least) that it would convert their love into mystical energy (which made no sense whatsoever). It had once been used as part of marriage customs in some tribe at some point and it could apparently ward off very powerful demons. Stephen had immediately wanted to ward his sanctum with such a powerful spell. There was only one catch.

* * *

"The love has to be... reciprocated."

"Uh-huh."

Tony had found the explanation a bunch of bogus which annoyingly worked, as per usual, but he wasn't against helping his boyfriend with a harmless love spell. They'd already done a few sex spells. The fact that one relying on love would exist was a logical conclusion.

"If you don't want to do it, it's okay. The ritual is a bit more elaborated and it has been described as visually overwhelming. I know magic still makes you uncomfortable, so you can say no."

Tony had been working on something while Stephen had explained the whole ritual thing to him. He had noticed that the sorcerer was uncomfortable, but he had assumed that the association with a marriage ceremony was what got him all tense. Now, though, Tony looked at him. 

Stephen was hiding his hands, eyes drifting around Tony's. He was tense, looking away. He even shifted from one leg to another. These were all Stephen's tells for being insecure, but it didn't really make sense.

"I don't know what I was thinking, this is so different from what we've done in the past-"

"Stephen."

Tony made sure to soften his posture despite his harsh tone. The sorcerer deflated.

"What is it about this that you're doubting? Do I have to use magic?"

"No. This is customarily done by a sorcerer to the couple. Of course, I'll be both officiating and one of the participants, but it should work regardless," he rambled.

The engineer sighed and left his work table. He took his time wiping his hands on a rag while Stephen started going into a rant about magical energies and auras.

Until Tony stopped in front of him.

"Uh-huh. You're saying a lot of things, Doc, but you're not saying the whole thing."

"I'm trying to explain the process to you-"

"You're trying to give me an out. I saw it and I'm not taking it. You say it's safe and all I have to do is get painted, sit there and look pretty. The only problem we might have is the long shower to get that paint off. What am I missing?"

The sorcerer's jaw tensed and he looked down, sighing.

"There is... a quantification."

"Meaning?"

"You know how we measure all forms of energy-"

"Yes, I'm an engineer. I know. Are you saying it's gonna drag our feelings out?"

"No more than using solar power drains the sun. Feelings are potent, rich in energy. With the right technique, they can be converted into mystical energy. It's just... there's a minimum for this spell and I have no way of knowing whether it's high or low."

Tony frowned. A minimum of energy required made sense. However-

"And if we don't reach that minimum?"

"The spell won't work."

Considering Tony had participated in rituals that could leave him incapable of having sex for months, this was a laughably low risk.

"That's it? Sounds reasonable enough."

Stephen didn't answer, but he seemed relieved. He'd obviously expected Tony to have a worse reaction. Oh.

"Wait. This was a commonly used ritual."

"Yes."

"So you're saying it may not work... because our feelings aren't strong enough?"

"Pretty much."

Tony crossed his arms over his chest, then relaxed them forcibly. He knew Stephen hated his posturing.

"Is there something else that can cause us to not pump enough juice?"

"Not really. Our auras are healthy enough to produce the necessary output. Unless your aura not being strong enough could hinder the process, but I doubt it. This was used by many people and I doubt they were all sorcerers."

"You lost me."

"Sorcerers have stronger auras in order to properly use their magic."

"But what if-" Tony aborted that thought, because it didn't seem to be Stephen's concern. "Are you doubting your feelings or mine?"

"Both, I suppose," Stephen finally admitted. "We haven't been dating for long-"

"A year is a long time."

"We spent little of it together."

The engineer softened. He pulled his man into a hug. Stephen was all about posturing and putting up a professional mask in public, but Tony had seen the mess inside after they'd started dating.

Stephen Strange was a piping hot mess of insecurities.

"I love you. I'll never understand magic, but I adore you. Look at me." He waited until the other man obeyed, then offered him a smile. "I love you. So if you feel the same, this should be ok."

"You know I do-"

"Then we're good."

"Okay."

Tony knew the issue ran deeper, but the less they dug into it, the better. Stephen was terrified that his feelings wouldn't be potent enough (whatever the hell that meant), which was old news at that point. Tony had chosen to believe in their love. Stephen had probably done the same. He wouldn't have told Tony about the spell otherwise.

"We're getting magic married," the engineer concluded.

Stephen laughed.

* * *

They finished with the white paint and started with the red one. Tony rolled his eyes. Stephen smiled in amusement.

There was something romantic about the action itself, about softly touching each other like that. Stephen's fingers felt like whispers across his skin, leaving colourful trails behind.

"This is nice."

They'd have to experiment more with body paint.

"It is," Stephen agreed softly, tilting his head back so Tony could draw the symbols on his neck.

They were both naked, the floor covered with a self-cleaning rug for the time being. Tony deliberately squeezed on Stephen's neck, teasing. The sorcerer let out an exaggerated moan, eyes glinting with mischief.

"Maybe later."

"I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about," Tony teased.

The sorcerer huffed a laugh, but didn't move, letting Tony finish painting him.

"We look ridiculous," the engineer concluded. Stephen looked less ridiculous, in Tony's professional opinion, because his cheekbones were highlighted by the ridiculous paint.

"But we're done."

Tony forced himself to relax.

"What now?"

Stephen guided him to stand up and dismissed the rug. The lights went off. The sorcerer led his lover to the middle of the room, where some candles were sitting in a circle. They stopped in the middle of the circle, holding hands. Tony looked around. He could barely see anything due to the room's poor lighting and the candles were a poor substitute for proper light bulbs, but they created strange (ha!) shadows on the sorcerer's body, combining with the paint to give Stephen an almost eerie glow.

"Now I chant, then we kiss and, hopefully, the rune will convert our love to mystical energy," Stephen explained.

Tony looked at his feet. Huh. That wasn't clean wood he was standing on, but dirtied with some red paint, drawn into a rune. He wiggled his toes.

"Alright."

He assumed the hand holding mattered, so he held Stephen's hands in his instead of the other way around, gently rubbing their backs with his thumbs. It strained the damaged limbs less.

With a soft smile, Stephen began chanting. Tony didn't speak the eerily musical language, so he ended up mostly tuning him out and watching.

Tony didn't understand magic (yet), but he understood that his boyfriend was a pro at it. He'd always enjoyed watching people do things they were good at and Stephen emanated that energy about himself. He was efficient and relaxed, confident with his skill. He didn't stutter, didn't bend his back and simply did what had to be done with unwavering efficiency.

Tony didn't understand magic, but he fell in love with Stephen a little more each time he saw him use it.

He was so entranced that he was late to notice that Stephen was leaning down for the kiss. Meeting him halfway only felt natural at that point. It felt different from usual, in a way. Like someone was stalking them from the shadows.

That didn't make the kiss any less enjoyable, however. There was passion, as per usual, and love, enough of it to make even their insecure brains shut up for a few moments.

Stephen shivered against him, whimpering. As proud as Tony was of his kissing skill, that wasn't it. He pulled away to check on his lover.

Oh. Stephen was glowing. His body seemed to emanate a dark blue light, which floated up and intertwined with a red and yellow one-

The red and yellow one was coming from Tony.

"Doc, am I on fire?"

It didn't burn, but he had to check. He could be outside his body again, or hallucinating or-

"Oh. You can see it." Stephen was way too calm.

"That's not very reassuring."

"It's your aura, Tony. I can always see it."

The engineer relaxed, watching the light show. He hoped his boyfriend would elaborate. Stephen didn't take the hint.

"Why can I see it now?"

"I don't know."

Tony poked his own hand, frowning. The light seemed to emanate from his body, but it left no physical feeling. Maybe it was a side effect of the original spell.

"Did the love spell work?"

"Yes. I felt the energy it channelled. The sanctum is now warded." Stephen waved a hand and cleaned them of the paint. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. For how long will I keep seeing everyone's personal light show?"

"I don't know."

Tony paused dramatically. Stephen had absolutely no idea what had happened to him, but it wasn't concerning. Extra colours in his life. No big deal. Unless something else had changed, but Tony had no way of telling if it had.

"Say, can you check and see if I have other side effects?"

Stephen waved his hand in an unfortunately familiar pattern, then shook his head. Nothing harmful, at the very least.

Tony looked around himself. The sanctum had its own aura, or at least Stephen had explained that. Tony should have been able to see it now, but nothing. Only a faint yellow glow if he squinted. His and Stephen's auras were a lot stronger.

"The sanctum has a faint aura, similar to the Cloak," the sorcerer explained, approaching his boyfriend once he was done cleaning up after the spell. "Humans are more potent and their auras shift easier."

Tony watched his aura reach out to Stephen's despite the other stopping a few feet away. Stephen smiled, extending his hand towards him. The blue mist seemed to crawl over his body, chasing Tony.

"Does this happen to everyone?"

"No." Stephen took his hands in his scarred ones, watching their energies intertwine for a few moments. "But it did get more potent after the ritual."

"Huh."

His skin was tickling pleasantly where they were in contact, like something great had happened and his body (or his soul, whatever) wanted more of it. Tony got a brilliant idea.

"So if we were to have sex..."

Stephen mirrored his grin.

"Let's find out."

It turned out to be the best idea Tony ever had.


End file.
